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I have written about managing dog stink several times in this column. You know your enemies well: urine, feces, old rotting foliage, garbage, and the ineffable doggie body odor. Although the smells that come with owning a dog are unavoidable, we try to cover them up, filter them out, and wash them away. I have found nothing works as well as giving Ace a full soap and water bath, but I can’t always wash everything she stinks up, like the carpet, the couch, and the air around her that I am forced to breathe. Sometimes, although a surface is washable, there isn’t time to give it a proper treatment before it’s needed. I always notice how foul the bed sheets smell right before I’m about to crawl underneath them at midnight.

The good folks at NOse Offense for Pets ($4.99 to $47.99 depending upon size) noticed my quest to control Ace’s stench, and they reached out to me with a challenge to try a sample of their product. The sales pitch sounded too good to be true: an organic, non-toxic, biodegradable spray that eliminates odors without covering them up with fragrance. They claim it’s so safe that you can rub it directly on the source of the odor, which is often the dog herself.

Let’s talk about receiving my sample of NOse Offense in the mail. How many times have you ordered a liquid product that arrives leaking in its box? Not with NOse Offense — the bottle was sealed with a plain screw cap, and the sprayer nozzle was included in the box separately. Their website describes NOse Offense as “green,” since they pay special attention to the packaging of the product and its shipping materials to reduce the impact on the environment. And to top it all off, NOse Offense is made in the U.S.A. Without even trying the product yet, I was already impressed.

Upon opening NOse Offense, which is a faintly yellow, translucent liquid, I noticed it has only the slightest and mildest of odors. It doesn’t smell much like anything, and it definitely has no added fragrances. I suppose it is a bit of a pet peeve of mine when products for dogs have heavy perfumes added. I can’t imagine it feels good for a dog’s sensitive nose to be inundated with such artificial scents. It would be similar to being in a room in which my primary sense, vision, was flooded with bright, artificial colors that did nothing to assist me in navigating or understanding my environment. Yuck. Since Ace never gave me a definitive answer, I don’t know how much she can actually smell NOse Offense, but she didn’t seem to pay it much attention after an initial sniff.

I tried NOse Offense on a variety of surfaces and smells. I sprayed it in the air as directed, and noticed that the smells of cooking, and later the smell of the restroom, seemed to just fade away. They weren’t covered up with perfume, they were just muted and then gone. Whoa.

I dug Ace’s blanket out of her crate for my next test. This blanket is probably the grossest-smelling thing in my house besides Ace. Every day when she returns from playing at the beach, where she rubs up against other dogs, dead sea creatures, and god-knows-what-else, she comes home and plops on this blanket. I sprayed half the blanket with a liberal helping of NOse Offense and left the other side raw. Again, NOse Offense worked its magic: The side I sprayed smelled like nothing. I wondered for a second whether perhaps the blanket had not been as smelly as I had thought… until I sniffed the other side and gagged. Amazing.

At first I was hesitant to rub NOse Offense on Ace herself. It just seemed wrong to put a product on your dog that you also can use on your couch. Then I thought about how I use other kinds of deodorizing products on her between baths without giving it a second thought. Granted, I am choosy about what I use on Ace, like Earthbath Grooming Wipes. Since NOse Offense is similar to these wipes in that it is biodegradable and fragrance-free, I went ahead and gave it a try. The packaging recommends you spray NOse Offense onto a cloth to apply it to your dog.

Ace had not had a bath in two weeks, so she was extra ripe. NOse Offense definitely reduced, but did not eliminate, Ace’s stink. I have never found a wipe-on product that could kill her smell, but I think NOse Offense has been the best I’ve tried. Using NOse Offense made Ace’s smell tolerable, and that’s usually what I’m looking for when I choose to wipe her down instead of giving her a full bath. I was pleased to note that she did not get a rash or otherwise have a negative reaction to the product, unless you count being disappointed that she no longer smells like garbage.

Dogster Scorecard for NOse Offense for Pets:

Quality: NOse Offense is organic, non-toxic, biodegradable, and made in the U.S.A. with recycled packaging and shipping materials. A+!

Function: NOse Offense jumped every smelly hurdle I set up, and even greatly reduced the smell at its source: Ace.

Creativity: Defeating odor without perfume is an art as well as a science.

Value: I think NOse Offense is priced fairly given its effectiveness and its lack of harsh chemicals. For an even better deal, read on — we’ve got a coupon for you!

Bottom line

NOse Offense is an environmentally-friendly magic potion that annihilates odor on a variety of surfaces, including your smelly dog.

Hey Dogster readers, NOse Offense wants to make it easier to try their product if you’re curious. From now until November 5, 2013 (one week from today), use the coupon code DOGSTER20 for a generous 20% discount when you buy NOse Offense from their website. If you’ve tried NOse Offense, or if you have another favorite product for killing dog odors, share your wisdom in the comments below.